Pilot killed in West Los Angeles crash ID'd as Westchester attorney

LOS ANGELES - The pilot killed in a crash of a single-engine Cessna in West Los Angeles was identified today as a Harvard-trained attorney from Westchester.

Sean M. McMillan, who was in his 70s, had taken off from Santa Monica Airport in his Cessna 210 shortly before the roughly 6:10 p.m. crash Friday in 2100 block of South Glendon Avenue, about 3 miles from the airport.

The high-wing plane narrowly missed high-voltage line, hit a palm tree, burst into flames and crumpled to the ground along the curb. No one on the ground was injured.

"I know for a fact Sean would have aimed his airplane at the last moment for an empty street," a neighbor, Charlie Fredricy told NBC4.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, McMillan radioed the Santa Monica tower and made a request to return to the airport for an unspecified emergency minutes before the plane went down.

Witnesses reported the plane coming down at slight angle just above the treetops, north of car-jammed Olympic Boulevard and east of Westwood Boulevard. Apparently, the engine was not running.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are in charge of the probe.

McMillan was a veteran pilot who for about 20 years had volunteered his time and use of his plane to take ill children to hospitals on behalf of the nonprofit Angel Flight. According the website of the national law firm Greenberg and Traurig, based in Century City with 1,750 lawyer in 30 locations, McMillan was a partner who earned his law degree at Harvard University. He specialized in corporate and securities law.